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I currently have a 1930s Osmia 222 button filler on my work desk which needs a new sac. The barrel is celluloid and the section seems to be hard rubber. It's a rare pen and I need to be extra careful. What I don't know is whether the section is screwed in or only friction fit. Does anyone here have experience with button fillers from Osmia? Any info is highly appreciated.

Hi folks, One of the things that can be pretty annoying on any pen is a loose part, usually a clip. Not only does it bother me when I'm writing, I worry that it'll get caught on something and pull off, or otherwise get damaged. One of my favourite pens is a lovely wood-grain Osmia 294 from the 1950s. It writes beautifully, and looks great in that streamliney 1950s way! The clip was loose however, and I thought I'd share the repair procedure in case it's useful for somebody with a similar design of pen. Ron Z has a blog on a similar (but not identical) procedure on his Blue Fingers Blog, so credit where it's due! The pen does not have a screw off cap top, because a. it wouldn't be streamliney and b. it would be too easy. And the clip itself is folded metal and cannot be tightened from the outside. When I say loose, I mean it was rattling and moving several mm in different directions. Here is an overview of the pen: The clip is held tight by a protrusion on the inner cap: You can see the metal tab on the clip that the inner cap protrusion fits into: And here is the final piece of the puzzle, the cap showing the slot the tab fits into: So how to fix the loose clip? If the clip is loose, it means that the inner cap is loose in the cap. The inner cap has a coarse right-hand (normal) thread on it. I was able to unscrew the inner cap and remove it using a rubber gripping sheet and a chopstick. Initially I tried simply tightening the inner cap, but the alignment wasn't right, so I loosened it and took the parts apart. This allowed me to wipe them down (they were pretty clean) and get the alignment perfect when I re-assembled. I chose to put a TINY bit of silicon grease on the inner cap threads. I may regret this if it continually loosens, but I'd rather have 70 year old parts able to come apart easily than jammed together. So now I have a tight inner cap, a tight clip, and a satisfying story! A small but significant repair. Here's the clip in place. You'll notice the contour of the clip doesn't quite match the contour of the cap all the way along, but it is completely solid, and I can live with that. Hope this is helpful to somebody, sometime :-) Best wishes, Ralf

Hi folks, I have picked up a very pretty green celluloid Osmia 1222 and it's on the way in the mail! I've been trying to find out more about the specific model, and it's proving challenging, as Osmias are not mean to have 4-digit codes. It is a pre-war (therefore pre-F-C) button-filler. Looks like 2-diamond nib (obviously not a huge pen at 5'/125mm). It has the long cap top and a simple "Osmia" clip. I'd be delighted if somebody could give me a sense of where this fits in the model line. Thank you! Ralf

Does anyone know what the "G" stands for in the Osmia Supra 44 G for instance? Thank you!

Info wanted , anyone have one of these ? Has OM Degussa nib . Looks like it might be a good diameter and is in a length range that I seem to prefer. Not as pretty as the ones that Bo Bo has but I like it anyway . Thanks <*)))>< Eddie

In the mail and thought I'd share some pictures . Ka-Bu- Co according to the seller is the German Office Supply Company Kaut - Bullinger & Co and this pen is made by Osmia . It is the same as an Osmia 226 so is their large pen . The clip is a very nice but uncorrect replacement so I will be on the lookout for a correct one . #6 Broad flexible nib . Here are a few of the sellers pictures . Eddie PS: Forum wont let me post the other two pictures for some reason . I tried resizing by 50 % but it still won't accept them .

Would like to hear any info I can get on this Osmia I just won on Ebay. Size in paticular is of interest . It has a Supra marked 14K nib so should be plenty flexi .

Hi All, The crown of my collection, a 1930s Osmia Supra 76 EF, is having some trouble and I could use your help. It worked perfectly when I bought it, but it had the originally cork on it so I filled it with distilled water and put it away for a couple months just in case the cork needed some reviving. I just took it out to use it and to my horror the blind cap won't unscrew. When I try to do so it turns the now incredibly stiff piston a little until both are totally stuck. If I try to unscrew the blind cap even more the piston makes a clicking sound but the cap just keeps turning without unscrewing. Also the water I had filled it with has vanished. Did I oversoak the cork or something? Any help would be greatly appreciated. This is my favorite pen and an amazing writer. Thanks!

I just got this beautiful Osmia 973 M. But the thing is, I really can't find anything about this model from google. And this made me really nervous about this pen, could this be fake? This pen is tiny and its nib is smallest that I have ever seen. The nib is smooth but weird, it have Osmia markings. Nib makes really fine line, when doing cross stroke, wider when down stroke. My other Osmia, which have M nib too, behaves like normal M nib. This pen started working after cleaning and putting some silicon grease to piston seal. I didn't completely disassembly the pen, I only took nib and feed out. Piston seal is silicone, at least it look like it. This worried me even more, because normally these vintage pens restorations takes longer than half an hour! This just really worries me. Could someone confirm me, that this is really Osmia? or worse, if its fake... At least I got it really cheap. Also, all info is welcome about this Osmia 973 model. Pen is capped 12 cm ( 5 inch) long. There is Osmia in gold leters in cap and back in barrel there is 973 and under it is M. Nib says Osmia (osmia logo) 14k 585.

A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a NOS Faber Castell 554D Progress fountain pen, when searching for inks. It was placed inside a cellophane wrap, printed with green A.W Faber-Castell and was finally packaged inside a small cardboard box. A small pen which kind of resembled a rather compressed modern MB146, with its striped ink-windows. Since, I have an excellent experience with most of the Faber-Castell fountain pens including the reviewed ones here – Ambition, Intuition and Elemento, I went ahead and purchased the pen. Later, Faber-Castell Co. confirmed that the 554D featured in their brochure till 1960. Faber-Castell started manufacturing fountain pens in 1951, after acquiring the Osmia Company and produced fountain pens till 1975. It carried the Osmia logo [diamond-in-a-circle] till the 1960s, given Osmia’s high brand recognition in the fountain pen industry and the same logo is also present in this one. PS: I have also replicated the content in my blog, since the images are/will be reduced to a smaller thumbnail after a short-period. Below is a link to the same: A.W Faber Castell 554D Progress Review Here goes the review. PRESENTATION I like the vintage bit of packaging in the traditional way - a thick cardboard box, which has actually become thin these days. As you can see, the cellophane wrap carries the green A.W Faber-Castell name. There is a classical user-guide in German, with instructions on how to fill the pen. http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag127/soniknitr/554D/1-box_zpsrpdq2z7y.jpg DESIGN The pen is made of up plastic parts with gold plated trims. This gloss of black and dazzle of gold is still being followed in modern times. http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag127/soniknitr/554D/FC554D%20005_zpsjzk60khf.jpg The nib size and the model number are etched in golden on the barrel, just below the piston-knob. The golden cap band mentions PROGRESS on one side and FABER-CASTELL on the other. http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag127/soniknitr/554D/1-cap1_zps6bgtjvdb.jpg The striped transparency of ink windows renders a rather elegant angle to the overall design of the pen. http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag127/soniknitr/554D/FC554D%20007_zpsgnanrim2.jpg FILLING SYSTEM The piston filling system was initially clogged, as the lubricants had dried out over all these years. After the first stop of the piston knob, by rotating the piston-knob further in a counter-clockwise direction, the entire piston unit can be pulled out. I applied some silicone grease (metroark211) on the piston seal, which is made of transparent plastic, and the piston mechanism was as good as new. If you can notice a white plastic thing through the ink windows below, that’s the piston seal. http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag127/soniknitr/554D/FC554D%20012_zps1bo8gpmn.jpg It takes in a good amount of ink with the piston fill mechanism, which lasts as long as the 0.8-0.9 mL capacity Faber-Castell converters. NIB – ALL THAT MATTERS The 14k gold nib is inserted into a screw-fit sleeve unit and the unit can be easily unscrewed from the barrel. It is a vintage EF nib and has got a hint of feedback, which is duly compensated by a rather wet flow of ink. You will notice an old Osmia diamond-in-a-circle logo embossed at the centre of the nib with Faber and Castell at top and bottom respectively. The nib specifications of 14K and 58.5% follow these impressions towards the tail end. http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag127/soniknitr/554D/FC554D%20010_zpslszwp0mf.jpg PHYSICS OF IT The cigar structure of this pen makes it a somewhat comfortable companion. The only disadvantage is that the cap cannot be posted securely. Uncapped Length ~ 12 cm Nib Leverage ~ 1.85 cm Capped Length ~ 13.3 cm http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag127/soniknitr/554D/FC554D%20015_zpslarlryny.jpg Though the length is comparable to a M400, a wider grip section and post-ability of cap are the duly missed elements. Now a days, most of the fountain pens can be posted. http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag127/soniknitr/554D/FC554D%20016_zpsmqyu5iqn.jpg OVERALL This vintage 14k nib has a wet flow, with a hint of feedback like most EF nibs. The nib is quite stiff with no hint of flex. There is also a bit of line variation among the horizontal and vertical lines. It takes almost the same time (15 secs) to dry as a modern GvFC Intuition Fine nib. http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums/ag127/soniknitr/554D/FC554D%20017_zpscgkbqxfj.jpg It was fun reviewing the 554D. Hope you enjoyed it.

Osmia is one of my favourite makes, so I had to buy this one: a pre-war 226 even though the listing informed me that it had a Parker nib; there was a Parker connexion with Osmia so I thought it was not too bad. The pen did look very sad when it arrived and the Parker nib was an English 35 so probably from a Duofold Senior of the 1950s. I cleaned up and rebuilt the pen, but though very good of its type, the Parker nib did nothing for me. The original nib in the pen must have been huge; I thought I might remove the Supra broad nib from an 884 but despite being about No 4 size, this was too small. Luckily I also have an enormous Jewel nib, for which I had no home and it turned out perfectly. The 226 is a big pen, 13.5cm capped and wth girth to match; a pen that needs a big nib and I was fortunate enough to have one. Cob

Hello! I came by a fountain pen today and haven't been able to identify it. I would be very interested to know about any information concerning this pen. I was able to find a short history of the company itself but not much about the pens they produced. I'm definitely not an expert on fountain pens (I've been researching them for a few weeks now), but I'd be very interested to know more! I'm wondering how old this pen might be, does it have any historical value, is it worth hanging onto? The pen seems to work - I've been cleaning it for the better part of the day (carefully, taking precautions and using only water) Breather hole in the cap is located opposite of the clip Nib engraving: OSMIA SUPRA 14K 585 Body engraving: 982 F (Tried to upload pictures of all details)

Hi, now that I am finally able to enjoy my vacation I have time to browse the local antique stores for pens. Today I ventured out to this smaller boutique (fantastic place along Mannerheimintie, lots of fancy stuff and the owners are great people). Anyway, they had a few pens, one Montblanc 344 (or somesuch in need of a lot of attention, broken cap jewel, missing clip etc.) and the one that caught my attention (Osmia 984 M). Ok, it had brassing in the fittings, it was in dire need of polish (a bit worn, usual wear for such an old pen) and it was engraved with the previous owners name... other than that, the nib was ok albeit a bit worn, filling mechanism seemed to operate ok and the price was only 50€. So what the heck, I like the green striated style anyhow so I nabbed it along, went home and cleaned it. Bingo, it turned out nice, good transparency in the cap and body, no cracks, dings or major scrathes and the nib is a lovely semi-flex one (nice even though it is an M size). Of course the pen could benefit from a more comprehensive restoration (as in to turn the colors out more) but other than that? It is a really nice work horse of a user grade pen. Pics (sorry for the poor quality, cell phone + bad lighting):